Receptacle



-April 25, 1939. H. NEGBAUR ET AL RECEPTACLE Filed June 29, 1958 INVENTOR Pose-e2? 24 25.

ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 25, 1939 REGEPTACLE Harry Negbaur, New York, liong lsland City, N; Y.,

balm & '00:, Ina, tionv of'New York:

and Robert Nyden, assignors to H. Neg- New York, N. Y.', a corpora- Application..June.29,,1938, Serial No. 216,454

15'Claims. The present invention relates to receptacles, and is. more particularly directed. toward-receptacle's designedto be used as holdersfor cigarette 1 packages.

The. present.v invention contemplates a. device.

for the above purposes adaptedto receive a package. of. cigarettes and having. a.closure, member which covers the. open. endv of the package.

Accordingto. thepreferred form of the present invention. the device has a. body member made out w of. resilient. sheet. materiaL. preferably somev form of sheet metal which may be pierced, ornamented, or. decorated in. any desired. manner,

and. a closure member suitably. secured to the bodymember and adaptedtobe swung back and forth over the open end ofthe body member to permit access to the. enclosedpackage or tocover it. The closuremember andthe body member are secured. together by a. mechanism which func- 0 tions to cause the closure member to bev held. normally closed,.but which, upon the application of. external pressure, as, ,for example, by squeezing the. side walls of the body member, causes the closure member to. swing.v to the open position.

-"Instead ofrsqueezing the side walls of, the body:

member, the closure. member may be swung to the open. position by engaging. it.- with, the. finger or thumb. of the hand holding'the device; Imeither case the spring tension inherent in the construction of the body member effects immediate closure of. the device upon the release of external pressure.

The present invention also contemplates a receptacle for the purposes stated having stiff substantiall'y unyielding wallsand a. closure member.

adapt'edto swing away from the opening and havinga springto shift it to the closed. position.

A; furtherv object of the invention is to provide devicesof' this nature in which the operating 0' mechanism is. small and. compact. and has no external'elementsilikely to catch in the pocket or int'erferewith its operation.

A further object is to provide the device with suitable stops which limit themovement of. the 46' parts either extreme position.

The accompanying drawing shows, for purposes of illustrating the present invention, two of. the many embodiments in. which. the invention may take form, it being understoodthat the drawing 50 is illustrative of the invention. rather than limitingv the same.

Inthe drawing: Figure l'is a perspective view. of the receptacle r o i ei e ie w nl e 5' g e 2 s de elfl m tfl V ew o the same withv the closure member in the closed position and parts broken away to show interior con-. struction;

Figure 3 is an end elevationalview of the structure shown in Figure 2- with parts broken away;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view onthe line 4-.4 of Figure 2, the closure member being-in: closed position;

Figure 5 is a View similar to Figure 4 with the, closure member in the open position;.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 6-6 of Figures 3 and 4 and showing in dotted lines the relative position of theside members when the closure member is. in the open position; and I Figure '7 is a fragmentary sectional view through a modified form of construction.

The body member ID ismade out of a single piece of sheet materialpreferably by a stamping operation, Ithas sides II and. l 2, whichmay be, solid or apertured to show the sidesof. the enclosed package, and also a bottom 13 interconmeeting the sides. The edges of the sides have member than the flange l5, and has an offs'et'portion I! which passes behind the loweredge I 5 of the flange l5, and the flange I5 has an end portion l8 which is ofiset and passes behind the upper edge l6 of the flange Hi. This will be apparent from Figure 4 of the drawing. The offsets referred to provide stop members orshoul ders l1 and I8 which are normally spaced apart; as shown in Figure 4. The flange members t5 and I6 carry outwardly extending elements pref-. erably in the form of pins 19 and 20. The cover or closure member 2| is provided with downwardly extending sides or arms 22 and 23- which" pass down outside the flanges I5 and I6; They are provided with diagonal slots, indicated"- at24-,-..

to receive the outwardly extending pins I9 and 20'. When the body member is stamped up it is pro,-

vided with a tension which tends to spread the side walls- I land I2 somewhat farther apart than:

indicated in the drawing, so that"v when the: side. Walls are brought to the positions indicated in Figures 1, 3, 4 and 6, some tension is developed in the resilient material employed. This tension Figures 2, 3 and 4. When in this position the left edge 25 of the closure member abuts the upper end of the side wall, as indicated at 26, At this time the free edge 21 is adjacent the free edge 28 of the other side wall.

When one applies pressure, as indicated by the arrows at the opposite sides of Figure 3 or by the hand as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 1, the side walls H and 12 are forced toward one another. This will cause the pins l9 and 20 to shift from one side of the plane indicated by the dotted line H of Figure 4 to the opposite side of the plane indicated by the said line as shown in Figure 5. During this shifting of the pins past one another they traverse the'slots 24 and cause the closure member to swing from the position shown in Figure 4 to the position shown in Figures 1 and 5. This effects an opening of the top of the case permitting access to the cigarettes in the package as will be obvious from Figure 1.

Owing to the cutting away of the upper flanges above the overlapping portions 14 and I5, space is provided for grasping the first cigarette to be removed, also for grasping the empty wrapper for removing it from the case. The amount of movement which can be had by'squeezing the side walls is controlled by the engagement of the shoulders I'I'and l8 with the edges 15' and I6 of the flange elements, as will be clear from Figui'e 5.

The flanges carried by the side walls provide convenient guides to facilitate placing the package of cigarettes in the case and suitably reinforce the side walls, so that they are not likely to become collapsed or bent out of shape. The narrow flange l3 bent up out of the bottom wall I3 also acts as a stiffening member, but preferably the flanges l3', l4 and 14 are separated by narrow gaps or spaces 25, as indicated in Figure 3, so as not to unduly stifien the structure. A finger hole 13" facilitates removal of the package from the holder.

Instead of manipulating the cover to the open position by squeezing the side walls of the holder, as indicated in Figure 1, it is, of course. obvious that one can hold the carrying case in the palm of the hand and use the thumb to swing the closure member to open position. Should the aperture in the side walls be large, the margins may be squeezed.

In the arrangement shown in Figure 7 the holder has sides 30 and 3| and end walls one of whichappears at 32. The end walls have pivot members, indicated at 33, to which is pivotally supported a cover or closure member 34 having downwardly extending sides 35 secured on the pivots 33. Between the end walls 32 of the body member and the downwardly extending sides 35, springs 36 are secured as indicated.

1 springs are tensioned to hold the cover in the closed position indicated in full lines and yet permit the cover to swing to the dot-and-dash line position.

It will be noted in both forms of construction the cover is pivoted close to the upper end of the body member and yet is arranged so as to swing entirely clear, so that the cigarette package can be readily inserted.

It is obvious that the invention may be embodied in many forms and constructions within the scope of the claims and we wish it to be understood that the particular forms shown are but two of the many forms. Various modifications and changes being possible, we do not other- These Wise limit ourselves in any way with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A holder for cigarette packages comprising a body member of resilient sheet material having an open upper end adapted to receive a package of cigarettes with the upper end exposed and having sides tensioned to spread away from the sides of the package and opposed flanges adjacent the open end, and a closure member having a portion adapted to cover the exposed end of the package and downwardly extending ends connected with the flanges to hold the sides of the body member compressed when the closure member is closed, whereby the closure member is held closed, and to further compress the sides when the closure member is opened.

2. A holder for cigarette packages such as claimed in claim 1, wherein one edge of the closure member abuts the upper edge of one of the sides when the closure member is in closed position.

3. A holder for cigarette packages 'such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the opposed'flanges have stop elements which limit the movement of the sides toward one another and the swinging oi the closure member to the open position. I

4. A holder for cigarette" packages such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the opposed flanges pass by one another and have outwardly extending elements at different distances from the bot tom wall of the body member and at opposite sides of a median plane between the's'ides of the body member when the closure member is in closed position, and shifting across said plane when the closure member moves to open position,

and wherein the closure member has a lost motion connection with the said elements.

5. A holder for cigarette packages such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the opposed flanges pass by-one another and have outwardly extending elements at different distances from thebot-J tom wall of the body member and at opposite sides of a median plane between the sides of the body member when the closure member is in closed position, and shifting across said plane when the closure member moves to open position, and wherein the closure member hasoblique slots into which the pairs of outwardly extending elements extend.

6. A holder for cigarette packages such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the opposed'flanges have stop elements which limit the movement of the sides toward one another and the swinging of the closure member to open position, and the flanges pass by one another and have outwardly extending elements at different distances from the bottom wall of the body member and at opposite sides of a median plane between the sides of the body member when the closure member is ber being adapted to receive through its open top a package of cigarettes with their ends adjacent the open top of the body member, and being made of resilient sheet material and 'ten sioned to spread the sides to a predetermined spacing, and a cover overlying the top of the body member and the inserted package and hav ing a lost motion hinge connection with each of the flanges of each pair, the resilient sides acting as springs to hold the cover in the closed position and being bendable toward one another when the cover is being opened.

8. In a holder for cigarette packages, a body member having sides interconnected by a bottom and provided with inwardly directed flanges at the edges of the sides, the body member being adapted to receive through its open top a package of cigarettes with their ends adjacent the open top of the body member, and being made of resilient sheet material and tensioned to spread the sides to a predetermined spacing, the opposed flanges having stop shoulders which limit the movement of the sides toward one another.

9. In a holder for cigarette packages, a body member having sides interconnected by a bottom and provided with inwardly directed flanges at the edges of the sides, the body member being adapted to receive through its open top a package of cigarettes with their ends adjacent the open top of the body member, and being made of resilient sheet material and tensioned to spread the sides to a predetermined spacing, the opposed flanges having stop shoulders which limit the movement of the sides toward one another, and a cover member overlying the top of the body member and the inserted package and having lost motion hinge connections with each of the flanges adjacent each of the stop shoulders.

10. A holder for cigarette packages comprising a body member having sides interconnected by a bottom and provided with inwardly directed flanges at the edges of the sides, the body member being adapted to receive through its open top a package of cigarettes with their ends adjacent the open top of the body member, and being made of resilient sheet material and tensioned to spread the sides to a predetermined spacing, and a cover overlying the top of the body member and the inserted package and interconnected with the flanges to impose a predetermined compression in the, sides when the cover is in the closed position and an additional compression when the cover is swung by the application of an external force to the open position to expose the top of the package, whereby upon the release of the external force effecting said additional compression the resilient sides act as springs to move the cover to closed position.

11. A receptacle having opposite sides yieldably movable toward and away from one another, two pairs of inwardly extending opposed members carried by said sides, and having outwardly extending pivot elements adapted to shift past one another as the sides are moved back and forth, and a closure member adapted to ove'rlie the ends of the sides and said members and having slotted ends which receive the pivot elements, the pivot elements sliding in the slots as the sides are moved back and forth and effecting a swinging of the closure member to cover or uncover the receptacle.

12. A receptacle such as claimed in claim 11, wherein the closure member has an edge engaging the free edge of one of the sides when the member is in closed position.

13. A receptacle such as claimed in claim 11, wherein the opposed members have stop elements which limit the approach of the sides toward one another and the swinging of the closure to the open position.

14. A rectangular receptacle having an open mouth at the top, and a closure member having ends extending down alongside two opposite side walls of the receptacle and pivoted thereto at points spaced below the open mouth a distance which will permit the entire closure member to swing past the upper edge of one of the other side walls and be brought down alongside said wall, and wherein said other side walls are resilient to form spring means acting to hold the closure member in closed position.

15. A rectangular receptacle adapted to receive a package of cigarettes with the upper end of the package open and having an open mouth at the top to give access to the upper ends of the ciga rettes, a closure member having side arms extending down alongside the two opposite side walls of the receptacle adjacent the shorter sides of the package and pivoted thereto at points spaced below the open mouth a distance which will permit the entire closure member when swung through an angle of substantially to pass by the upper edge of one of the longer side walls and be brought down alongside said longer side wall, the upper ends of the shorter side walls being cut out to provide finger openings to facilitate removal of a cigarette from the package and of the empty package, the width of the side arms being greater than the width of the finger openings to cover the same when the closure member is in closed position, and spring means acting to hold the closure member in closed position.

HARRY NEGBAUR. ROBERT NYDEN. 

